Israel Waste Dumping Threatens Palestinians’ Health

Israel Waste Dumping Threatens Palestinians’ Health by Islam Online (reposted) Monday, Apr. 04, 2005 at 8:38 AM CAIRO, April4 , 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – A private Israeli company decided to dump10 , 000tons of garbage in a Palestinian quarry in the occupied West Bank territories under the watchful eye of Ariel Sharon’s government, an Israeli newspaper revealed on Monday, April4 . The construction of the garbage dumb at Abu Shusha quarry, located between the Jewish settlement of Kedumim and the city of Nablus, poses health threats to the Palestinians and violates international treaties and internal laws, Haaretz reported. In the last few days trucks and bulldozers have been covering the quarry's floor with brown soil to turn it into a garbage dump. The dump operators plan to deposit some10 , 000tons of garbage very month in , the largest in the West Bank quarry. The site is operated by D.S.H., a private Netanya-based garbage disposal company owned by the settler Valensi family. Transferring Israeli garbage to the West Bank will be much cheaper for D.S.H. than taking it to a site in Israel, the daily said. “Double Crime” In addition to violating international treaties prohibiting an occupying power from making use of occupied territory unless it benefits the local population, the project further violates Israel’s laws. “We are dealing with a double crime,” former environment minister and Knesset member Yossi Sarid told Haaretz. “On the one hand, Israel is preventing the Palestinians from making use of the quarry and its resources, and in exchange we are giving them the Sharon's garbage. I believe this is a violation of international treaties.” He was referring to the Sharon and Dan regions from where the garbage will be collected. Iche Meir, the director of the union of local authorities for the environment, said the work had been done without the union's approval and was illegal. Unnamed sources told the Israeli paper that kingmaker Daniella Weiss, the head of Kedumim council and one of the owners of Baron Park, was behind the government inaction to halt the project, which has been approved by the environment ministry. “The biggest mystery is how D.S.H., of all companies, was allowed to build and operate a very profitable waste site on state land without any tender being issued, as required by law,” Haaretz said. Pollution Environment experts said that the project will jeopardize Palestinian water resources. It will have its toll on the Mountain Aquifer, one of the largest freshwater sources in Israel and Palestine, the daily added. This is because the dump, which was originally used for “dry waste,” will receive and absorb household garbage with organic substances. Palestinian pundits said earlier in the week that Israel was launching a “radioactive war” against the Palestinians. The stark warning followed Israel’s establishment of a “radioactive” glass room at the main Rafah crossing through which Palestinians have to pass to enter or exit the Gaza Strip. Palestinian medics said that potential diseases include thrombocytopenic, sterility, congenital anomalies, cancer, leukemia, mental retardation and ductless glands disorder, warning that Palestinians are slipping toward slow death. www.islam-online.net add your comments more by more Monday, Apr. 04, 2005 at 8:39 AM JERUSALEM, April 4 (Xinhuanet) -- A private Israeli company has planned to transfer and dump tons of garbage in the West Bank, part of the Palestinian lands, Ha'aretz daily reported on Monday. The dump operator plans to deposit some 10,000 tons of garbage from Israel's central Dan and Sharon regions every month in what was known as the Abu Shusha quarry, the largest in the West Bank, said the report. The Israeli government has not approved the project yet. Experts warn that dumping garbage in the quarry, which is located between the Kedumim settlement and the Palestinian-controlled Nablus, will jeopardize Palestinian water sources. Transferring Israeli garbage to the West Bank will be much cheaper than taking it to a site in Israel, according to the report. The disposal of garbage in the West Bank will violate international law prohibiting an occupying power from making use of occupied territories unless it benefits the local population. "We are dealing with a double crime," says Member of the Knesset(parliament) Yossi Sarid, former environment minister. "On the one hand, Israel is preventing the Palestinians from making use of the quarry and its resources, and in exchange we are giving them Israeli garbage. I believe this is a violation of international treaties," he concluded. The West Bank is strewn with Palestinian garbage dumps which constitute serious environmental hazards and jeopardize the ground water because Israel refuses to let Palestinians build modern waste disposal sites. Iche Meir, director of the union of Samaria local authorities for the environment, said the plan to dump garbage in the West Bank has been done without the union's approval and was illegal. Although the environment minister has not yet approved the work on the dump, trucks and bulldozers are covering the quarry's floor with brown soil to turn it into a garbage dump and huge semi-trailer trucks are to bring the Dan and Sharon garbage which will be amassed in the quarry, said the report. ZDROJ:http://www.indybay.org/